Syllabus
Welcome to the course site for RPW 210 Rhetoric, Culture, & Power. The SVSU Catalog describes this as a course about communication, including writing, speaking, and any form that communication might take. In addition, RPW210 serves as the General Education Category 10 offering from the Department of Rhetoric and Professional Writing. Thus, by definition this course is writing intensive.
Course Description
The SVSU Course Catalog description of Rhetoric, Culture, & Power.
Examination of and practice in writing and other communication practices against the backdrop of rhetorical studies of culture and power. Emphasis on critical reading and research; on written, spoken, and visual communication, and on awareness of audience, purpose and context. Sections may be organized by themes (e.g., Cultural Engagement with Technology, Encounters with Environmental Issues, Social Movements and Social Action).
Course Objectives
I designed this course to foster scholarly and professional development in the context of the following objectives.
- Explore connections among the conceptual and practical elements of writing and information design. We begin with the core premises that writing is problem solving, and that writing is design. Writing falls under the disciplinary heading of information design. Because I would not be surprised if this is new terminology for you, information design includes documents (e.g., articles, web sites, podcasts, videos, apps) that designers (aka writers, rhetors, journalists) craft/compose using a variety of content elements: written word, recorded audio, still images, video. Audiences encounter such content through a variety of means and media: print documents, digital documents, audio broadcasts and streams, videos/film, apps, kiosks, billboards, posters, and a whole spectrum of things we might describe as interfaces.
- Explore strategies and practices of effective, context-appropriate, audience-aware writing and information design. Effective information design demonstrates awareness of and respect for the needs, knowledge, expectations, and work habits of audiences, and takes advantage of the most appropriate and contextually effective media for expression. All information is designed in some manner. Some is crafted carefully and well to fit the context in which it is offered and encountered. Some falls short of audience needs and expectations in one or more ways. We study writing and design with a critical eye because we want to do it well.
- Explore strategies for cultivating experiences through writing and design. We experience writing and design. Regardless of how we encounter information, the act of engaging with it is itself experience. When we attempt to communicate with others, our choices about language, presentation, grammar, and more all shape the way that others experience the things we seek to communicate. Although all such encounters are shared, we must consciously acknowledge and critically examine our roles and responsibilities in those connected experiences.
- Examine cultural, professional, and disciplinary standards for communication. Quality communication is created to meet or exceed a spectrum of standards for excellence. Many professions have adopted their own particular standards to guide their members. Accessibility and inclusivity drive design in a variety of ways. Industries and economic unions maintain their own as well. It is thus important to explore what standards apply to each kind of communication we create.
- Examine links among communication, professional authority, and ethical responsibility. Professional and disciplinary credentials carry with them both the authority to communicate and the expectation that we will do so responsibly. Ethical action demands that professionals examine the ways power knowingly and inadvertently influences the effectiveness and impact of design thinking, design action, and professional conduct more generally. Because writers and designers work within, and thus perpetuate, the language(s) of social, political, and economic power active in and beyond professional spaces in the United States, they must seek understanding of how to do so consciously, critically, inclusively, and responsibly.
- Demonstrate the ability to execute effective communication in the context of the other objectives. Professionals and scholars earn privileges and opportunities with their credentials and certifications. Observation of cultural practices in a variety of contexts consistently reinforce that the most respected and enduring professionals communicate effectively. Such success does not come easily, even to those who possess seemingly natural gifts and abilities for communication. Whether you are an accomplished communicator, or someone who struggles to succeed in this endeavor, my baseline goal is to help you become more aware, better prepared, and more effective as a designer/communicator than you are when you enter the course.
Textbook
This course requires that you acquire one textbook.
- Don Norman. (2023). Design for a Better World: Meaningful, Sustainable, Humanity Centered.
Encounters with this text make up a central part of the course experience. Given the pace of idea exploration and development for the course, you must secure access to this text right away. It is available in both print and digital formats from a variety of vendors.
In addition, I will assign readings, listenings, and viewings from a variety of other sources. I will provide or direct you to materials for these assignments through our course space in SVSU Canvas.
Other Course Materials
To support your work here this semester, you will use the following services, tools, and technologies.
- SVSU Canvas. I will help you organize your time in the course through weekly modules. I post supporting materials (e.g., articles, sample docs, supplemental docs for workshops) to Canvas Files. I typically use the Announcement page to facilitate communication with the whole class. Note. Although I create assignments in Canvas, it is only so I can use the Grades page. (No detail about workshops or projects appears on the Assignments page in Canvas. All descriptions are posted here on this course site.) You will post most of your workshop submissions through the Discussion page.
- SVSU Vmail. Use campus Vmail (aka Outlook Mail) or Canvas Mail for all correspondence with me. Note, however, that I typically only check Vmail, and Canvas Mail is sometimes remarkably slow at forwarding messages to the campus email servers. I may not see a message posted to Canvas in a timely manner.
- Dropbox.com. You will create and manage a shared folder on this service. All of the file exchanges between you and me for course projects (e.g., your submissions, my feedback and project evaluations) will happen through Dropbox.com. Dropbox offers a free service option. That will be all you need for this course. Do not sign up for a paid business or pro account.
Note. I strongly recommend that you install Dropbox on your computer if you have one. The service is much more easily navigated from a computer desktop than it is from a browser window. If you try to do anything other than view documents from a tablet or smartphone, you will likely become rather frustrated.
- Audio recording software. Although you will not produce a polished podcast during this course, you will use audio recording and transcript technologies to complete multiple assignments. Audio recording apps and packages are now standard on computers and smart devices. Familiarize yourself with the capabilities and limitations of these technologies at the beginning of the semester to avoid uncecessary difficulties later.
- Screencasting software. Your final project for the semester is a video presentation. Although there are many tools that you could use to complete this work, I will recommend tools and services (e.g., Techsmith Capture and Screencast.com) that are simple, straightforward, and that require little preparation to produce quality work. If you have access to more-sophisticated tools (e.g., Techsmith Camtasia), you are welcome to use them.
Although you will use several communication tools and technologies during your work this semester, all of these things are either provided by SVSU, or are available to you for free. If you have questions about such details, please follow up with me. Among the most important priorities in your professional development should be identifying successful strategies for acquiring and refining technological knowledge, and finding comfort in learning new tools and processes. If technology intimidates you in any way, then emphasize achieving this professional goal this semester.
Some of the work you do might be made more convenient or easy if you have access to the following additional materials.
- Portable storage device. I strongly recommend that you always carry a portable storage device (e.g., flash drive, external hard drive) with you to store project and workshop files, or anything else you might need for your work in this course. Although SVSU provides you space on the Microsoft OneDrive system, I recommend that you use it only as a backup, rather than as your primary work space. The system has proven unreliable for countless students during my time at SVSU.
- Scanner or scanning app for your phone/tablet. You will at times integrate visual content that you draw from source material into your work. Although you can use a camera to accomplish this task, the results are typically clunky and unprofessional. Scanners and scanning apps allow you to digitize content at a much higher level of professionalism. Several apps are available for free or at little cost. I strongly recommend that you acquire one, and learn to use it.
- Headphones. Because you will use audio and video for some of your work, and because you will have opportunity to work with these technologies during class sessions, headphones are a convenient item to have on hand.
- Microphone. Because you will record audio this semester, a microphone (even an inexpensive one) is a useful addition to your toolkit. It will raise the quality and professionalism of your audio. Because I administer the departmental Audio & Video Production Studio, I can grant you access to quality equipment.